Zero Racers is the second official F-Zero game, and I’m confident it will be one of the Virtual Boy games I feel like playing most frequently. If you’ve ever played F-Zero, you won’t be too surprised to find that this game is *very* difficult. I’m finding the Stingray racer to be the most forgiving, but it’s still not easy. You will likely crash out a lot during your first few playthroughs on Ducts B and C.
Don’t let what I said above turn you away from enjoying this masterpiece, though! The physics and wireframe visuals of this game give it nigh on endless replay value, and I am so excited to have another Virtual Boy game to support a good High Score mode. The sense of speed, the creative design of the courses, and the 8 different racers to choose from all help Zero Racers feel like a full-fledged, 2nd-gen VB game. The polish here is as good as on other standouts like Virtual League Baseball 2, Bound High, Dragon Hopper, and 3-D Tetris. My only real gripe here is that music doesn’t play during races, and controls on the Switch might be a lot worse than with the precision of the original VB dual D-pad controller.
A tip for first-time players – be sure to get comfortable using both D-pads on the VB controller for steering, especially during elevation changes! As far as I can tell, there’s no rubber-banding here, so don’t worry about consequences when you’re comfortably in the lead. Don’t be afraid to heavily utilize the right D-pad for small adjustments throughout the race, even when not coming up on a turn.
As much as I loved my playthrough of Dragon Hopper, I’m even more excited to enjoy Zero Racers. I can only hope that we see a 2-player option someday!